Ridin' On The Mason Dixon Line
by MrsVoorhees313
Summary: After having a near fatal brush with a herd of walkers, Cassia finds herself rescued but held captive by a certain former sheriff and his gang of survivors. Feeling alone, imprisoned, and hopeless will she be able to find a place with the group of misfits or leave and try her luck on her own?
1. Chapter 1

Ridin' On The Mason/Dixon Line

Part 1

Cassia Mason winced as the dry rotted wooden door gave way with a crack. She had finally stumbled upon something resembling a town, after days of wandering through the Georgian forest without any concept of direction. It had been nearly a week since she'd seen someone that wasn't a walker and wasn't doing as well on her own as she'd hoped. Frankly, she found it to be a miracle that she had even made it this far by herself.

 _'There will be plenty of time to contemplate my surprising ability to survive after I've found some food'_ she thought while gripping her machete and flashlight tighter. After mustering up her courage for a moment more, she gave one final shove and the front door to the quaint towns' grocery store crashed into a postcard stand. After giving the store a quick sweep with her flashlight she holstered her machete and made her way past the vintage register and into the first set of aisles as quietly as she could.

The town must have been affected fairly early on because not only were most of the shelves at least half stocked, but the town didn't even seem to be overrun with many walkers. She had taken out a small group when arriving but other than that had gotten fairly lucky and hadn't seen any others since beginning her search.

It had been a solid 3 days or more since she'd had a decent meal that consisted of more than a couple of berries or the occasional rouge mushroom and she was beginning to feel the fatigue. Even when she did find something growing that appeared edible, she was weary to eat the foliage she found for fear of misjudging whether her findings were poisonous or not. Cassia knew that if she didn't find a serious source of protein soon she would be in some serious trouble when it came to defending herself against walkers.

She didn't want to admit it but she gave herself maybe 3 more days till shed be too weak to fight. If she was being honest even that was pushing it. Unintentionally her mind wandered to thoughts of fast food joints and home cooked feasts and her stomach gave an unstoppable growl of protest as she started to make her way through the aisles filled with crushed food products, debris, and overturned displays.

Her hunger and urgency had made her more reckless than usual. She wanted to be careful but she was just so hungry. As she was rummaging through the canned goods looking for anything that wasn't completely destroyed, or inedible looking, she almost didn't hear the labored shuffling coming up behind her. With barely a pause for thought, her instincts kicked in and she simultaneously spun and drew her machete from the leather holster strapped across her back.

Apparently the town wasn't quite as abandoned as she'd thought. Whether it was her smell or the crash of the door when she broke in, she had attracted at least a half dozen walkers into the building with another dozen or more making their way down the street. She couldn't worry about numbers right now though. A particularly grotesque pairing of biters were maybe 5 paces away and getting far too close for her liking. She let instinct take over and tried not to think about the rancid blood and bits of once human matter dousing her as she slashed, cut and hacked at anything moving within reach.

In the midst of the carnage she thought she heard the rumble of an engine and the sound of a car door but wrote it off as wishful thinking. No one came to save you these days. Best case scenario, people ran as fast as they could in the opposite direction. In the worst they tried to kill you or do unmentionable things. Survival of the fittest and all that jazz. She tried not to think about the odds of her own survival predicament and just kept swinging. She didn't know how long shed been fighting them but she could feel her stamina waning. If she wasn't making it out of here alive, she was at least going to take as many of these nasty fuckers down with her as she could.

All of the sudden Cassia heard the sound of a window break and let out a half muffled scream as she felt an intense pain slice through the meat of her left thigh. Cassia had been mid swing and her aim faltered as the pain grew more intense. She managed to recover her swing in time and caught the closest biter in the side of the temple. As the edges of her vision began to darken, she brained the next walker she was dealing with before her legs gave out and she crumbled to the floor.

With black spots beginning to cloud her vision she finally chanced a glance at her leg preparing to see the damning jagged, torn flesh of a walker bite. Instead she saw the shaft and feathers of what appeared to be an arrow, with a slow but steady stream of blood pouring from the entry point of the wound. The shock of seeing a projectile protruding out of her leg was too much for her. The last thing she registered before blacking out was being sprayed with gore as the head of walker that was about to claw into her was split like butter by the blade of a sword.


	2. Chapter 2

Part 2

As the tricked out military hummer rumbled into the center of a small forgotten Georgian town, Michonne did her final supply check. She exchanged a glance with Glenn as the hummer came to a jerky halt. Daryl's bike could be heard driving up from behind them but she could also hear the tell-tale snarling of a sizable riled up pack of walkers.

"Hold on to something guys!" Rick yelled as he whipped the hummer into the side street between the grocery store and pharmacy.

In the past few months the group had become a sort of resource team and often went on runs together when the gun power could be spared. After the last few runs they had gotten the art of clearing out small to moderate sized areas down to a science. The minute their vehicles were parked Rick, Michonne and Glenn hopped out of the hummer followed by Daryl who had stashed his bike and they began to secure the area.

When they had pulled up they had run right into a herd of walkers that appeared to be passing through the town. The guys started with securing the outside of a building they planned to raid while Michonne went to start taking the walkers out that were coming from the direction of the grocery store. As she made her way toward the front door she heard one of Daryl's arrows crash through the front window followed by a very distinct cry of pain. Although every run is different, walkers are predictable. Usually, if they are all trying to get to the same place there is a reason. More often than not it's because someone is in trouble. One thing is sure though, walkers don't make noise besides gurgles, snarls and moans and they definitely don't yell in pain. She knew what she had heard, and she knew someone was inside that store. As much as she hated it, even after everything, she still couldn't listen to someone fall to the walkers without at least trying to help.

She had made her way into the store just in time to see a gore covered woman viciously brain a walker before slumping to the floor. Another walker was clawing its way to her and just about close enough to take a bite. With no time to act Michonne swung her Katana with full force and split the head of the walker in two. The woman was now obviously unconscious and with the felled walker on top of her, Michonne figured the woman was about as safe as she was going to get for the moment. She then went about clearing out the rest of the aisles before going back to check on the woman.

"Guys! Over here!" Michonne yelled to the others as she pushed the rot riddled body of a walker off the unconscious figure underneath.

It took just over a minute for the guys to finish off the last stragglers outside and make their way into the now quiet grocery store. She was just putting a wadded up jacked under the girls head when they came into view.

"Who is that?" Glenn said with a weary expression.

"Donno. I found her just before a walker could get her. Looks to me like she got hit by one of Daryl's arrows," she said while standing and throwing Daryl a reproachful look, "but at least I can't find any bites. Seems like she was managing to hold her own before we got here."

Daryl just shrugged and moved to take his arrow from the girls' leg but was stopped with a touch of Ricks hand on his arm. "Careful, we're going to want to keep that in there until we can get Hershel to take a look at it. If we take it out now she could bleed out."

No one objected to the obvious necessity to get the girl medical attention. Daryl grumbled but didn't argue. Instead he scooped the unconscious figure up and, as gingerly as possible, made his way with her to the Hummer. As he set her down in the back seat and laid a random piece of cloth over her, she let out an agonized moan. She was thin and the elements had definitely given her a beating. Besides the arrow in her leg, she also had a pretty gnarly gash across her nose. It appeared to be a few days old by the looks of the raw pink edges and the surrounding puffiness.

 _'She mighta taken her licks but she's a fighter for sure'_ he thought ' _at the very least she has something keepin' her going'._ The thick layer of blood and grime covering her from head to toe was a testament to that. He waited another moment to see if she would wake up but other than her moan of pain he saw no signs of consciousness. He locked the doors and made his way in to help the rest of the team finish up.

It took them no more than ten minutes to strip the small store of anything that could be considered of value and load their loot in the trunk of the hummer. Rick and Michonne took the front while Glenn offered to sit in the back with the Jane Doe. With Daryl leading the ride back on his bike, the group made their way back to Cell Block C where the rest of the group was surely waiting in anticipation.


End file.
